Year in Rock 2023: Album of the Year #15-11

Alright, enough messing around. Let's cozy on up to the top 10.

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM

History Books

October 27, 2023 • Rich Mahogany/Thirty Tigers

Highlights

History Books

Autumn

Michigan, 1975

It's not easy for a band to come back from nearly a decade away and simply pick up where they left off; it makes sense, then, that The Gaslight Anthem don't really try. Instead, their sixth album takes a more measured approach that's somewhat akin to a juiced up version of Brian Fallon's solo records. I personally would have preferred a little more fire in the collective belly, but otherwise everything there is to love about this band is fully intact.

ROYAL THUNDER

Rebuilding the Mountain

June 16, 2023 • Spinefarm

Highlights

The Knife

Now Here - No Where

Fade

Coming a long six years after the enthralling, expansive WICK, Royal Thunder reemerges down one member with a somewhat stripped down sound in turn. Having said this, singer/bassist Mlny Parsons has long been the star of the show here, and her performance on Rebuilding the Mountain ensures that Royal Thunder sounds massive no matter how economic the songs are.

boygenius

the record

March 31, 2023 • boygenius/Interscope

Highlights

$20

Not Strong Enough

Satanist

Considering that Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker have all created veritable masterpieces on their own, on paper the debut album from their shared supergroup should be utterly amazing. The good news is, by times it absolutely is; all three are given ample opportunity to contribute and shine across the record's dozen tracks. For me, all that's holding it back is the songs' tendency to stick close to the style of whoever carried the bulk of their creation. After a very successful touring year (and, obviously, more time together as a unit), if they should coalesce their powers into a consistent musical vision the results could achieve all-time levels of greatness.

SPANISH LOVE SONGS

No Joy

August 25, 2023 • Pure Noise

Highlights

Pendulum

Clean-Up Crew

Marvel

When I last covered Spanish Love Songs around here, they were taking top five honours in 2020 for Brave Faces Everyone, a harrowing and tortured post-punk triumph that was hard to listen to thanks to its heavy subject matter but ultimately one of the most rewarding albums I've heard so far this decade. Their follow-up carries just a little more optimism, and some added shimmer to the sound. It's a more easily digestible version of the group's dread-soaked rock, but not at the expense of who they are. The proverbial shit is still proverbially fucked up, but Spanish Love Songs now sound like they're mature and/or jaded enough to keep head above water amid the chaos.

THE BEACHES

Blame My Ex

September 15, 2023 • AWAL

Highlights

Blame Brett

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Paranoid

Shower Beer

In what is probably this year's most impressive breakout story, Toronto foursome The Beaches are finally reaping the rewards of a decade of hard work. After a pair of EPs and a debut album that saw their star rise here in Canada, they took their time releasing another proper album; coming six years after Late Show and with another pair of EPs (plus some one-off singles) as stopgap releases, it was the breakup anthem Blame Brett that finally got The Beaches well-deserved recognition internationally. As a whole, the album is a quick and consistent listen and, while Blame Brett has gotten the bulk of the attention thus far, there are several would-be hits strewn across Blame My Ex's stacked track list.

Okay, we've made it to the top ten. Well, I have. You have to wait until the next post.

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

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